Wine tastings are an interesting phenomenon. As the winery rep behind the table at a trade tasting (where wineries and wine shops come to try and hopefully buy our wine), it is very serious work, talking about the wines and gathering lead information on each account to follow up on later. If the tasting is well attended, then time flies and I leave with a stack of business cards and a bunch of new contacts to follow up with. Trade tastings are also a really good chance to touch base with fellow wineries, taste their wines and sneak a peek at their current marketing materials.
Working behind the table at straight consumer tastings as a wine professional is interesting, to say the least. In all honesty, most consumers are there to drink—not to learn anything about the wines. About 10% of consumers that are there are truly interested in the wines for purchase later….but those folks are few and far between.
And there is nothing wrong with that—consumers pay a decent amount of money to get in, and they should get their wine and have a good time. However, as a sales and marketing person and partial proprietor of a winery, there is nothing that is more painful than a consumer tasting…especially towards the end of the night when people are a little sloppy. Although it can be total entertainment too. I have seen people that fall flat on their faces and have to be carried out. No joke.
Here are the top 5 things I love/hate about pouring at consumer wine tastings:
5. HATE: Consumers who think they know it all. Last week, I was trying to tell someone not to rinse her glass with water going from a Pinot to a Merlot. It waters down the next wine. If you must rinse a glass, take a tiny bit of wine, swirl and dump. And that’s pretty much only if you are going from a red to a white, or if the previous wine was faulty. But she got all pissy at me for trying to give her some expert (I have been doing these things for 11 years so consider myself fairly knowledgeable) advice and (politely of course) explain how she could enjoy our wine better. She walked away in a huff, saying she didn’t like the wine. Well duh, it was watered down you moron.
4. HATE: Consumers that spit all over the table. At a large wine tasting, spit buckets are necessary. But regular non-trade people just do not know how to spit. I always wear black to tastings because these people back-spray on me. And why do wine tastings always have white table cloths? It’s down right gross at the end of the evening.
3. HATE: Consumers that hold their glass out for a pour, and then pull it back really fast saying “oh that’s enough” while I am pouring. People, hear this. I am pouring you wine. If you pull back your glass, I will spill it. And I will probably spill it on you. Just let me finish my pour. If it is too much, that’s cool! Take a sip, and dump what you don’t want. I am used to that from trade tastings. We all sip, spit and dump.
2. LOVE: Wine Tasting Fashion. Consumer wine tastings are great for people watching. The women especially. Some people get really decked out. I did three consumer tastings this past week; two of them it was snowing out and we were at a convention center (not the fanciest place in the world, that’s for sure). Some women were very casual with jeans, a cute top, boots, jewelry. The younger set (21-29) were DECKED out. We are talking bridesmaids dress type gowns with 5 inch heels. There is no place sit at tastings, everyone eats and drinks standing up. I felt so bad for some of these women at the end of the night. Also, everyone has giant purses to carry around…along with their glass, booklet of wines and wineries and a little plate of food. Cute purses, but seriously, who needs to be weighed down with all that? My advice for a wine tasting: be cute, of course….but comfortable. Wear dark colors (see #4), shoes that are fairly comfortable—expect to be standing. And bring a small bag you can put over your shoulder.
1. LOVE: When I am pouring with someone else—usually a distributor or agent—we often play the wine “guessing game.” While one of us covers the table, the other will head out to another table with both glasses and get tastes of a wine from another winery. Bring it back to the table and we play “guess what this is.” Usually it’s simple like the varietal, but when I was in Vancouver last week, my agent was guessing varietal and growing region within California. He even had a few right guesses on vintage. I was impressed.
Clos LaChance in Edmonton, Alberta
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I hate perfume. People wearing strong perfume or aftershave shouldn't be allowed in tastings. It's understandable at consumer events, but utterly unforgivable at trade events. It should say clearly on the tickets: no perfume.
Same goes for strongly smelling foods. Again it's usually more a problem at consumer events where restaurants are exhibiting too, but at Pinot Paradise there were a couple of overly fragrant food stands.
Hate glass spit buckets. Spitting is necessary, but it's still pretty gross. Clear buckets are far from ideal. Opaque plastic buckets are cheap and readily available. I accept that It's also a difficult job keeping them emptied, but please don't take away a full bucket without first bringing an empty one.
I don't like it when the server tells me what the wine tastes like before I've tasted it. I know they are there to sell it, but let me taste it first, then we can talk about it.
I hate microscopic pours. At least give me enough to taste it. I don't like wasting good wine either, but sometimes there's barely enough to wet the glass.